Why I Love My Email...A Valentine for My Inbox

I love email. I just do. It's efficient and as a busy young professional who is constantly on the move, it's essential for keeping my life organized, next to my trusty calendar, of course. But lately I'm hearing the faint buzzing of the tech trend police. They say that this current generation isn't really using email as much and that text messaging and social networking is what's in. Some trenders have even gone so far as to say that email is the new snail mail. I say ha! Here is what I know to be true about email......






It's a keepsake...
I still have saved helpful pieces of both personal and professional advice given to me through email or heartfelt messages from a loved one. I also like to email myself snippets of articles or photos that inspire me.


It's a task master...
It can be a to do list. I often email myself tasks that I need to accomplish for the day or week. Particularly when I'm at recruitment events and I need to follow up on something specific with a prospective student, I shoot myself a quick email with "TO DO" in the subject line so that when I get back to the office, I can get right on it.


It's a highly efficient storage bin... 
I have Gmail and have had it for almost 6 years. I love love love it because I can sort and organize my emails by topic which is great when I'm coordinating a project and I need to make sure that I didn't miss any details sent to me. Clicking on that particular label will bring up all communication sent about that project. Awesome! 


It's a collaborative agent...
It allows me to track conversations on a project that I've been working on over the months. Again, another Gmail reference, but only because I don't know about other email clients. But the conversation view of emails is wonderful. There are plenty of "email meetings" that I've had to keep track of where a topic is thrown out to the team and responses start pouring in. Email helps me to keep track of who said what and when.


It's a networker... 
I can't tell you how many first intros I made through email that has led to some pretty cool opportunities, one of which was having a guest post featured on Brazen Careerist blog for young professionals. It also led me to fellow young professionals Cameron Butler and Courtney Murray who offered me a position as a staff writer for their college and career advice blog, The LI$T.


It's accessible everywhere... 
Nowadays, who doesn't have a smart phone, laptop or tablet? If you do, you have instant access to your inbox, anywhere, and at anytime. Gmail even allows you access to your inbox offline for times that you don't have an internet connection.

So why aren't you using your email? To some email is slowly on it's way out, but to that I say, perhaps you just haven't found the right email client to suit your needs. Perhaps the next generation of young professionals just need to be better educated about the different functions of electronic communication and how it can help organize their lives and build relationships. 


I want to hear from you. How do you use your email?